Cosmos Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 What are your recommendations for a child branching out of the children's section? I've looked through a number of lists and found the following commonly listed for middle-schoolers. That is to say, when I look through grade-oriented reading lists I see that the children's lit is gradually replaced by adult works over roughly 6th - 8th grade until adult fiction dominates the high school lists. And it appears to me that the first adult fiction works suggested are quite often from this list --- Tom Sawyer The Prince and the Pauper Around the World in 80 Days Journey to the Center of the Earth To Kill a Mockingbird Treasure Island Kim Fahrenheit 451 Lord of the Rings Call of the Wild Sherlock Holmes I think it's accurate to say that these were written with an adult audience in mind but are easily enjoyable by a younger reader. Any thoughts on adding/subtracting from this list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 This is just me, nothing personal or judge-y, okay? :) I think 11-14 is sort of a big age range. For example, Kim is a great book for a 14 year old. But, I think most of it would sail over the head of an 11 year old. There are plenty of other Kipling books that are better for an 11 year old. I will make some other suggestions later, when I am at the computer. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 This is just me, nothing personal or judge-y, okay? :) I think 11-14 is sort of a big age range. For example, Kim is a great book for a 14 year old. But, I think most of it would sail over the head of an 11 year old. There are plenty of other Kipling books that are better for an 11 year old. Oh, sure. It is a big range, and certainly different kids are ready for different books at different times. I'm not looking for suggestions for my child, by the way. I'm more interested in this idea in general of the transition into a more sophisticated genre. (Not to belittle children's literature -- I still enjoy it a lot myself!) What I find interesting is to see, across lots and lots of different lists, these same books appear over and over again as sort of the first introduction to adult literature. I'm curious what links them -- why are these books in particular more accessible to a younger reader? Some have a young protagonist but not all. They're mostly plot driven, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathymuggle Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) What are you looking for? Fun reads from the adult section that are teen appropriate? (i.e reading for pleasure). Literature as part of an English program and to broaden minds? (of course there is some cross over…..) Whatever you do - be careful in teen section of libraries and bookstores for with 11-13 yr olds. I find teen books are almost worse than many adult books in terms of content. Here is a list of gentle (not necessarily religious) fiction if you are looking for fun reads, which might make good transition books. http://www.lansing.lib.il.us/webfiles/RA_bibs/gentle.pdf FWIW, I am reading The Help at the moment it is seems fairly benign, Secret Life of Bees was as well (and had a child protaganist). Both straddle literature and fluff, to me. Edited February 3, 2012 by kathymuggle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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